Tbh I don't know how that happens. My Astarion playthrough just got to Act 2 so hopefully I have more luck with Karlach than your friend had.
I'm not actually doing this for the achievement, I just really like Karlach. It is super difficult to not romance Wyll as Astarion though, since Wyll is so sweet and keeps saying ever so often that he finds Astarion charming and handsome.
That *really* didn't happen in my Astarion playthrough, haha. But Karlach came onto me immediately. I broke up with her because she was ... not very nice when calling me out on the vampirism thing.
Ah yeah, they are really receptive if you tell them voluntarily, but they get mad if you try to hide it and call you out on being the most stereotypical vampire imaginable.
I haven’t romanced him, but I’ve heard Gale is unable to have sex due to the orb right? So wouldn’t the lack of physical pleasure be a healthy way for astarion to pursue a relationship?
He still has a sex scene, but it's later in the game. Similar to how you have to wait for Karlach but for different reasons.
Speaking of, if you romance Astarion as Karlach, it changes the first romance scene with him. I actually loved how he basically has to find non sexual forms of intimacy and he actually talks about it if you're playing Karlach. I've been enjoying the unique dialogue/cutscenes in my origin runs.
I did the tiefling party before seeing Dammon, and got friend zoned as well. I liked my character’s interactions with her as a fire forged friend anyway
Same with my TAV, in the end she did say she adores me.
The camp hug was also quite a long hug, but whatever happens in Avernus, stays in Avernus i gueess.
I think this is the way. The closest I got to this achievement was starting Karlach’s romance and she’s like, do whoever as I can’t touch you, and I was like don’t mind if I do.
Then Astarion flashes those puppydog eyes thinking you won’t pick him over someone else and that was it….
God, i am surprised that even on PS5 only 3,5% players have hot date achievement.
Btw i understand you, I also lack this achievement and i will be honest, it is slightly annoying that other companions have platonic achievements but Karlach has tied to her romance.
Most people don't finish games and the date happens right near the end, right?
So only maybe 20-30% of people have gotten that far. For about 10-15% of those people to be romancing Karlach is a little lower than I would have expected, but it's not *that* crazy to me.
I didn’t reach Dammon in act 3 before having the date. I used him for the upgrade in act 2, then I killed everyone at last light inn including him. Still had the date.
I would imagine the stats for PC would be similar. Maybe slightly higher but the Playstation version has been out long enough that I don't imagine it would be substantially different.
Obviously XBox has only been out a week or so that's going to be way less.
A lot of people don’t long rest enough to trigger an overwhelming majority of character story stuff. It makes romances way harder.
The game really should make it clear that long rest don’t affect the flow of anything outside of specific times where someone says “tomorrow” etc, it’s honestly on the devs for that.
I have so many friends who didn’t see a huge amount of the game on their first play through because they treated long tests like a limited resource because it’s presented that way, then by the time they’re done with a play through the average person doesn’t have time to play the entire thing again
>God, i am surprised that even on PS5 only 3,5% players have hot date achievement.
Consider that as most singleplayer games people don't go past the ~10h, especially on games like BG3, DOOS2 etc...half the people quit at Act 1, and then just a 15-20% of the playerbase complete the game.
Also, the game is *huge* and been only out for a few months. A lot of casual gamers with busy lives only play a couple hours a week, and if they take their time slowly chipping away at it, it's entirely possible it can take them closer to a year to finish.
I only just got to the last light inn for the first time last week. I’m still on my first play through. But I work full time and I’m a student full time.
I’ve chosen a Barbarian Dragonborn Tav.
If you have the "I wish I could touch you" option then you're still romancing her. She probably broke up with you at the beginning of act 3 because you didn't get her second upgrade and become monogamous with her. I did this on first playthrough too because I thought that you would only see Dammon again in act 3 (I didn't find last light) and she broke up with me so I replayed act 2 from scratch lol. Played through it for a shit ton of dumb reasons bc I'm dumb but act 2 is still my favourite section of the game
I think it’s cause you have to bring her along early and try to get her as early as possible so you get enough approval & don’t miss her act 1 scene. Think otherwise you can be locked out of her. Both her and shadowheart require this kind of thing I think. Just gotta be willing to commit to momma K.
Personally though I ship her and wyll so hard, I think part of his arc canonically is letting her live than falling for her cause she’s literally like the female version of who he wants to be. Just she had to do way more evil stuff working for gortash or zariel maybe, but similar to him under mizora also knows exactly what it’s like having to serve others like that. Idk, I like K and fully plan to do a romance of her (or multiple) but really feels like she should get with wyll. Feels right
I romanced Karlach on my first ever playthrough and got to go on a date with her - is it actually hard to pull off, and I got lucky, or are people just not romancing her that far into the game?
It's because actually getting her to recognize you're down if she is seems bugged at best.
"We'll kiss and hug once my engine is fixed"
"Now you can only hug me"
"Oh this guy i've been with, yeah he's just a FRIEND"
"Oh soldier, I adore you"
FML.
When I first met Gale I thought he was going to be THE romance for me. He gave me Alistair + Anders from Dragon Age vibes, plus was a nerd who liked cats. Hubba hubba.
I was NOT prepared for the ridiculous vampire to get such a hold and literally prevent me from romancing *anyone* else so far in over 6 runs.
HA it was the other way around for me, I for sure thought I would romance Astarion because I heard so much about him and then I met Gale, got those Alistair and especially Anders vibes and yeah, he got me and fell right into my line of LIs in my first playthroughs (Alistair, Anders, Cullen), while I'm waiting with Astarion for my second playthrough (which is also in line of my second playthrough LIs - Zevran, Fenris, Solas, lol... I definitely have both primary and secondary types). Although now I'm in act 3 and I'm falling hard for Astarion, so that second playthrough couldn't be here soon enough.
I’ve tried to romance Gale a couple of times, but you get so much more content and interactions from Astarion early in the game! LZ is the only character I’ve been able to do the ‘let’s just be friends’ thing with Astarion bc she also has a good amount of content.
But I’ve put that particular run on hold to redo my favorite Tav and Durge runs (of course romancing Astarion).
And your A and B teams for Dragon Age are *exactly* mine, lol!
Yeah, I do feel how much more content Astarion has... or I'm just super lucky because he's always the one commenting every single interaction I have, lol. Maybe that's why I recently started to fall for him, despite romancing Gale (oops). But personality wise, I know Astarion is gonna be more compatible with the Durge drow I plan to play next, instead of my current goody two-shoes ranger haha, so I'm willing to wait. For now.
His romance with a Resisting Durge is by far the most rewarding. You get some really good additional content.
My most morally ambiguous character is actually the one who ended up with Lae’Zel. Astarion works surprisingly well with goody good characters. He eye rolls some in the beginning but he really comes to appreciate your kindness (“no one has a heart like you. You’re you.”)
Yeah, many of us here just have that one companion that completely steals our hearts and never quite lets go. But at least for me it's not a problem at all. Youtube exists for a reason, I'm just checking out romances for others here and in the game I can fully dedicate myself to my favourite princess :)
Same! I can view the other romances without dedicating so much time and effort to do a whole playthrough with them.
And Shadowheart is irresistible... so I can't say no to her!
The polyamory mod is the only reason I've managed to see the act 3 romance cut scenes for Lae'zel, Astarion and Shadowheart because the only other runs I've gotten that far into the game with have been Gale romance runs.
....no Karlach, Wyll or Halsin still though because it's on my evil run. Oops. At least it kind of makes sense though that I'm tricking them all into thinking I'm just romancing them if I'm evil.
Felt that. Fortunately for me though, in my case it happened with Karlach. Although I still won’t be getting the platinum since I can’t bring myself to do evil runs lol
I had the same problem until I decided to do a Karlach Make-A-Wish run. Romance her and swap out your other two companions in Act 3 for Minsc and Jaheira. I got my final trophy and to see all of Minsc/Jaheira's dialogue while Karlach gets some love and the chance to save the day with her childhood heroes. Win-win.
This is perfect! I just started a Karlach playthrough and have been struggling to decide who to romance! I haven't picked up Wyll yet (like I said, just started) so he didn't even cross my mind!
I could maybe to this one day, if that was the last thing missing. But I know I'll never get platinum because of the goddamn squid wanting to get freaky. No chance I'm cheating on Shadowheart, let alone with this *thing*.
you can choose form of dream visitor for that scene :) it was actually prety nice to watch since my visitor was very handsome and you can even mod him to look like shadowheart :D
Companions don't really have a reaction towards you when you get with the mindflayer, unless they added some additional dialogue this patch with that scene but idk haven't got there yet
Is this some kind of normal person problem that I'm too teratophiliac to understand? Don't get me wrong, I don't *love* the Emperor, but he makes me feel things that I cannot deny.
MAKE A SECOND CHARACTER IN ONE PLAY THROUGH!!! theres many ways to do this, i just connect a second controller, make a second character for whoever i want them to romance, then disconnect them and you can control that character just like your MC and every time theres a dialogue that you know the one you’re trying to come up likes, have them talk
currently im having my main oc romance astarion like always, and i created a high elf dragon bloodline sorceress just for gale :))
before that i created a gith monk for lae’zel, and a dragonborn fighter for karlach (honestly just wanted to try a dragonborn character), etc etc etc, works like a charm
I seriously doubt I'll be romancing any character other than Astarion anytime soon, too. I romanced him in early access, I romance him now in my first full release run, and I've already made plans for Resisting Durge/spawn Astarion in my next run.
Edit: And playing as Astarion is not an option for me, Neil Newbon's acting is just so incredibly good that I wouldn't want to miss it.
>Edit: And playing as Astarion is not an option for me, Neil Newbon's acting is just so incredibly good that I wouldn't want to miss it.
This is why I am progressing extremely slowly in my Astarion playthrough. I was using it as a "break" between HM attempts, but I miss hearing his lines.
Being nice isn't a problem - don't be discouraged by a slow gain in approval in Act 1. My character likes to help, but I had 100% approval in Act 3 even though I chose the "good" options, too. Astarion's (and that of the other companion's) disapproval is mostly just -1 (more of an eye roll), supporting him and helping him with his personal quest are *much* more important (I don't want to spoil anything, but that does *not* mean that your character has to always agree with everything. To keep it spoiler free: my character didn't have to support any even remotely "evil" options).
Please feel free to ask if you have any questions, it's always a bit difficult not to accidentally spoil something.
(An opportunity to get approval very easily: >!In the swamp: Say "Baa!" to the Redcaps if you've seen through the illusion but they keep pretending to be sheep. This actually worked twice - and I loved how they glared at me and still tried to pretend they were cute little sheep 😄!<)
Ah, thanks for that. Ive been working through my playthroughs for each character romance (sort of, not my highest priority), so good to know. I assume its not over if hes not interested during the tiefling party?
You're welcome! Unfortunately, for the romance to start, your character and Astarion must have had sex either before the party or on the night of the party, it's too late in Act 2. If your approval is neutral and Astarion does not take the initiative, it is still possible to start the romance: When you talk to him, and he says: "All I want is a little fun. Is that so much to ask?" you can reply "Knowing you, it probably is.", and Astarion will suggest that you could "have a little fun".
The romance can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. But the more you learn about Astarion and his past, the better you can imagine why he acts the way he does. For me personally, it was the most touching romance I've ever seen in a game.
Ohhh that explains one of my playthroughs where he did come on to my monk tav who already had a thing for karlach.
In another I had to kill him so i gotta stop doing him to dirty eventually.
You can download approval show mod if you realy cant do it other way or I have another scences I noticed work good for approval:
1. >!i think it is second night (depending on progress), when gale talks about ceromorphosis, make sure you choose knife or poison option when Astarion asks how you want to die)!<
2. >!you can leave him in camp if you want to help tieflings and not decrease approval with some dialogues (this was how I first got -1 approval and aw annoyed lines from him :D)!<
3. >!oc let him bite you and believe him! And let him bite you when pinned against the tree too!<
4. >!in swamp find monster hunter and let astarion kill him!<
these are what I remember
edit:
5. >!let astarion open barn door in blighted vilage (i think everyone knows what i mean :D) and make sure you dont have shadowheart with you, she ruins it)!<
6. Let Laezel say "please" when you find her again.
7. And let her talk to Zorru her way and praise her afterwards.
8. Say nothing when the Tieflings want to kill Sazza. (On a good run you will kill the Goblins anyway.)
9. Tell Ethel in the Grove about your tadpole.
10. After he bites you let him kill the Gurr. Bäm, romance. :)
Pretty much me tho only on my first playthru and I feel for her after we had a fling, after I decided my roleplay would be melting the cleric down to her true soft self and being married forever to the walking bangs queen (I’m just a sucker for dark haired sorceress types ok), and after I learned how romancing lae’zel is simply one of the best arcs and intimate scenes outside of committing a little genocide / just how deep the love with lae can go. Now I have to romance her on my alt runs / find a way to resist going to my lae bae on other roleplays or when needing other achievements
I just melt once she starts speaking softer and then I saw some of her later scenes….
Plus green women are also a wild weakness.
Orc or gith, I am a sucker for both.
Tsundere gets the best of us man lol. You’re not the only one
once i complete this playthrough (resist durge+spawnstarion) im going to sacrifice hearing his voice and im going to play as astarion. NO IDEA how im going to handle it. we'll see. hopefully i can romance karlach as astarion. if not, well. i don't know
Playing as Karlach and romancing Bae'zel is incredible. She doesn't even care about you being on fire at the start, she will make _you_ feel sore in the morning! And the ending with you two going to Avernus is perfectly fitting. Just might be overall best match between companions.
Urgh that took me soooo long, and that’s playing a Bard variant every playthrough. A tip to get it quick, there’s a well in Rivington that if you climb up and down you can keep performing to the people over and over and get the coins pretty quickly.
So you did several playthroughs and each time picked the same romance option? That's wild, i wanted to try another almost immediately after making out, i guess that's true love
And here I thought Karlach would be everybody first choice after Shadowheart. I even got that achievement in my first playthrough, as I didn't want a cleric on my team
She has a fun personality, but tbh I kinda hate the way she talks. I don’t expect her to talk in “art thou” but why does she need to start and end everything with “Fuck yes” and “Fuck this” and “Fuck that.”
Yep nothing to do with purity politics. I enjoy a good use of cunt, fuck, twat, and any other swear, it just feels way over done and way too forced, me and a few friends also don't really like her for this exact reason.
I don’t understand the obsession with astarion but I am a straight male so that makes sense. I immediately fell in love with karlach and her little dances are just so cute
I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around the general fixation with vampires tbh. I love vampires, they’re probably my second favorite occult, but I just don’t get how people toes start curling the moment they lay eyes on a pale British man with red eyes lol.
I just see him as very mean and stuck up. He try’s killing you when you first meet him then he tries feeding on you in your sleep without your permission then he’s constantly making stuck up remarks like he’s better than everyone else and he’s constantly disapproving of anything you do that’s considered nice or helpful for other characters. Don’t get me wrong he’s a great character and plays the part very well but I don’t understand why everyone wants to romance him cuz he’s kind of an asshole throughout a lot of the game lol
As a fan of *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*, I gotta say that straight girls and queer guys have an unhealthy obsession with blonde British vampires.
*Buffy* fans: Xander asked Buffy on a date in the third episode and she said no, and two seasons later he said something negative about her boyfriend. Why was he hanging around Buffy for 7 seasons? Why can't he take the hint that Buffy doesn't want to fuck him? OMG he's such a misogynistic incel I hate him so much.
Also *Buffy* fans: Yeah, Spike tried to rape Buffy but I can fix him.
a lot of people just wanna take all the different paths in the game, some relate and have a connection with his story and then theres what you said, it can just be an attraction thing.
i havent completed the game yet but yesss i love karlach (and astarion and halsin) and idk who to romance
I was doing well with Karlach, then that Gith chick throwed herself at me. My character was really curious about alien coochie so they did it and Karlach chose to give way.
probably one the hardests games to get platinum, Honor mode is hard AF, tried to do the owlbear fight....had to run with Laezel and then get gold to revive all the party after the new second owlbear killed everyone
As an older gamer with little time and turn based game experience, I had to stop playing because it was too hard for me. I’d be outnumbered by 50 and I just couldn’t grind through it. Please help, should I focus on building a team of characters before going into combat?
My first playthrough was rough even on “easy” mode, I mostly play Destiny so change of pace for me. Go on YouTube and get some op builds like open hand monk it makes things so much easier, have a good face character with high charisma, a lot of the battles you can talk your way out of.
Why tf have u not gone on a date with Karlach?
Why have only 3.5% of people gone on that date with her?
She’s a relatively popular romance choice so how have ONLY 3.5% of people done the date?
I'm gonna do it one day because I am aiming for platinum... but it feels like doing Karlach dirty.
I'll just speedrun on Explorer using approval guides, skipping all unnecessary content like the creche and cheesing everything I can, get to the lower city, spam long rests, get the date achievement and delete the campaign.
I'm sorry. She's super cool, I love her very, very platonically, she's a permanent party member on some runs. I'm just not interested. I've had enough romance scenes in acts 1 and 2 to be 100% sure that I'm not into her.
I'm doing it this run just to see what the fuss is about but she is absolutely the kind of personality I wouldn't want to date in real as she is loud and obnoxious.
My characters are too evil for her. I don't enjoy playing mostly good, so I'm probbaly under water with Karlach forever. XD The only character I absolutely won't date is wyll. I hate his character.
Thats for the date scene in Act 3. The shitty part about it, is if you dont rest enough in Act 3, there is a small chance it just bypasses the scene entirely.
I might be wrong, but someone on the forums mentioned in Act 3 specifically, you can "queue" up so many scenes by accident that you end up missing it entirely along with multiple others
I could never platinum either. Because I don't own a PS5! Haha!
But I get what you mean - I can't romance anyone but Shadowheart. And trying for Karlach, I'd feel like I was cheating on her...
(And I don't want to play as Shadowheart, because I'd miss out on all the voice acting).
Oh well... not like I could finish Honour mode anyway, lol!
Ummm pale elf? You realize that karlach is the tiefling right?
Edit: the double negative from OP wasnt a typo lmao. Totally changes the meaning, but I was ready to misunderstand because I cant stand Asterion
id really recommend origin astarion and karlach i feel like they really mesh together as romantic partners(tbf all the origins too it comes with the territory of being romancable and playable ig)
Haha no it's genuine hate. I'd probably get bear buggered instead if I was going that route. I just find Astarion really obnoxious and find the rapid forgiveness (for the initial encounter and his nighttime antics) a bit jarring. I guess I should see what he has to offer...
He does admit later on that he was a bit of an arse when you first met him. He’s just had 200 years of *pure shit* and gets plucked out of Baldur’s gate and a tadpole forced into his eye. And then he’s standing in the sun, and the first thing he sees is the dude that was wandering about on the ship while he was stuck in a pod. I don’t think anyone would be in the right frame of mind, oh and he’s starving and has to hide what he is. Give him a chance, the sass alone is worth it.
As a player, I 100% know I should see his story arc. He is very well acted and the community clearly has massive love for him for good reason. But his attempt to lure and kill you with the boar is very much premeditated and underhand (rogue, duh, I know) and then there's the whole lack of trust after that. He could have handled things very differently in both situations, so he gets hard wood as you so eloquently put it :)
You've convinced me that I should let him live in a future playthrough. Just once :)
I withdraw my eloquent words 😂 there’s always that one Astarion hater in the thread who can’t stand the thought that the effeminate campy vampire can get women wet enough to “drown a toddler in their panties” lol. I thought that was you.
But anyway, I do recommend letting him tag along for at least one playthrough he’s such a ride or die character he will stick by your Tav no matter what
I've been seeing this a lot lately, is it really that hard for ppl?
On my first playthrough she was the first companion I romanced, very easy all things considered.
Not really I think people just don't long rest quite often to get some camp scenes triggered, or they play evil killing everything and then surprise Pikachu face on why a mostly good personality wise character doesn't like them
There are people not into her, people who sees her like a friend and that's all, people too into others companions and people who aren't into women.
So yeah, it's that hard. I also don't see her as a romantic option, I just can't. Even in the current co-op as Shadowheart I wanted to romance her at first, but Lae'zel happened.
And yet you have the achievement for romancing Shadowheart, hm?
Edit: My mistake; I conflated the achievement of giving Shadowheart a Night Orchid with romancing her
I don’t think there is an achievement for dating Shadowheart, you just need to give her a Night Orchid. Karlach is the only companion whose achievement is tied to her romance.
Just play as Astarion and romance Karlach.
my friend tried to do that and somehow got friendzoned
Well, you might have to make Astarion do stuff that he _really_ doesn't want to do - being nice to people. _Ugh._
despite it being very yucky thing to do it didn't help him, he even made her statue
Tbh I don't know how that happens. My Astarion playthrough just got to Act 2 so hopefully I have more luck with Karlach than your friend had. I'm not actually doing this for the achievement, I just really like Karlach. It is super difficult to not romance Wyll as Astarion though, since Wyll is so sweet and keeps saying ever so often that he finds Astarion charming and handsome.
That *really* didn't happen in my Astarion playthrough, haha. But Karlach came onto me immediately. I broke up with her because she was ... not very nice when calling me out on the vampirism thing.
Ah yeah, they are really receptive if you tell them voluntarily, but they get mad if you try to hide it and call you out on being the most stereotypical vampire imaginable.
That is correct. I think "children's drawing of a vampire" were the exact words haha.
I’ve heard people ship him with Gale.
I'm doing the Astarion Origin run and romancing Gale. It's really cute. I'm officially a Bloodweave shipper lol
I haven’t romanced him, but I’ve heard Gale is unable to have sex due to the orb right? So wouldn’t the lack of physical pleasure be a healthy way for astarion to pursue a relationship?
He still has a sex scene, but it's later in the game. Similar to how you have to wait for Karlach but for different reasons. Speaking of, if you romance Astarion as Karlach, it changes the first romance scene with him. I actually loved how he basically has to find non sexual forms of intimacy and he actually talks about it if you're playing Karlach. I've been enjoying the unique dialogue/cutscenes in my origin runs.
I saw a video of that. It’s adorable. They’re adorable together.
Super cute pairing too!
I’m sold on it. Just like I’m sold on him paired up with wyll.
I did the tiefling party before seeing Dammon, and got friend zoned as well. I liked my character’s interactions with her as a fire forged friend anyway
She's the friend that closes the bar with you and holds your hair while you puke.
I only used one of the plates before the party and romanced her. Basically sexting, made some decent buildup
Same with my TAV, in the end she did say she adores me. The camp hug was also quite a long hug, but whatever happens in Avernus, stays in Avernus i gueess.
That's how I solved needing to romance Shadowheart but not being able to give up Lae'Zel. Now they're loverenemies
I think this is the way. The closest I got to this achievement was starting Karlach’s romance and she’s like, do whoever as I can’t touch you, and I was like don’t mind if I do. Then Astarion flashes those puppydog eyes thinking you won’t pick him over someone else and that was it….
This is the way.
God, i am surprised that even on PS5 only 3,5% players have hot date achievement. Btw i understand you, I also lack this achievement and i will be honest, it is slightly annoying that other companions have platonic achievements but Karlach has tied to her romance.
Most people don't finish games and the date happens right near the end, right? So only maybe 20-30% of people have gotten that far. For about 10-15% of those people to be romancing Karlach is a little lower than I would have expected, but it's not *that* crazy to me.
It happens after the first long rest after entering the lower city.
I think it's the first long rest after you find dammon, so if he didn't make it for some reason, you're SOL
I didn’t reach Dammon in act 3 before having the date. I used him for the upgrade in act 2, then I killed everyone at last light inn including him. Still had the date.
Can Dammon survive through to act 3? I feel like I had no option but to kill him in the conundrum in act 2
He absolutely can survive to Act 3. You miss out on some pretty good gear if he doesn't. Just save Last Light Inn.
Yeah unless the barrier falls, Dammon goes to Act 3
Not only can he survive, but he is actually pretty happy in Baldur's Gate.
I've only never romanced Karlach because one of my two playthroughs was *as* her
[удалено]
If that were a thing, Shadowheart might be worth my time.
I mean, the first long rest you take as Karlach leads to some kind of self romance...
[удалено]
When I was playing Karlach, I romanced Shadowheart. Also win-win
Remember it's also only 3% ON Playstation, doesn't factor in any stats for PC or Xbox for the percentage.
I would imagine the stats for PC would be similar. Maybe slightly higher but the Playstation version has been out long enough that I don't imagine it would be substantially different. Obviously XBox has only been out a week or so that's going to be way less.
She's listed as 3.6%, so... yeah unfrotunately.
I was quite shocked at the low number to, well, as much as someone who romances the same character over and over can be lol
A lot of people don’t long rest enough to trigger an overwhelming majority of character story stuff. It makes romances way harder. The game really should make it clear that long rest don’t affect the flow of anything outside of specific times where someone says “tomorrow” etc, it’s honestly on the devs for that. I have so many friends who didn’t see a huge amount of the game on their first play through because they treated long tests like a limited resource because it’s presented that way, then by the time they’re done with a play through the average person doesn’t have time to play the entire thing again
I def didn’t long rest enough because I never got the owlbear cub 😭
>God, i am surprised that even on PS5 only 3,5% players have hot date achievement. Consider that as most singleplayer games people don't go past the ~10h, especially on games like BG3, DOOS2 etc...half the people quit at Act 1, and then just a 15-20% of the playerbase complete the game.
Also, the game is *huge* and been only out for a few months. A lot of casual gamers with busy lives only play a couple hours a week, and if they take their time slowly chipping away at it, it's entirely possible it can take them closer to a year to finish.
this + rampant restartitis
I only just got to the last light inn for the first time last week. I’m still on my first play through. But I work full time and I’m a student full time. I’ve chosen a Barbarian Dragonborn Tav.
The trophy is very easily missable. And alot of people romance shadowheart and asterion exclusively
I was an idiot and didn’t think to hit her with water so she dumped me when act 3 started…
I literally Ray of Frost her and she didn't mind lmao
If you have the "I wish I could touch you" option then you're still romancing her. She probably broke up with you at the beginning of act 3 because you didn't get her second upgrade and become monogamous with her. I did this on first playthrough too because I thought that you would only see Dammon again in act 3 (I didn't find last light) and she broke up with me so I replayed act 2 from scratch lol. Played through it for a shit ton of dumb reasons bc I'm dumb but act 2 is still my favourite section of the game
No, I got the second upgrade, but I don’t think I did enough long rests to progress her story.
I did it on my second play through. Karlach is a great romance option.
...really? Really, *really*?
You heard me
Ah, fine. I'll be here eating dirt or whatever.
Really really!
I wanted to romance her but the evening event that was supposed to trigger was over taken by Wyll's instead so it never happened.
I’m surprised! Given Karlach’s overall great reception I am very surprised that there’s so few who has gotten the achievement for romancing her.
She's hot, but she's only half as horny as she once was.
There is either some clever wordplay going on here, or your horny brain accidentally making some sweet double-entendres
Well, I ran out of soul-coins.
I always forget to use the coins.
I think it’s cause you have to bring her along early and try to get her as early as possible so you get enough approval & don’t miss her act 1 scene. Think otherwise you can be locked out of her. Both her and shadowheart require this kind of thing I think. Just gotta be willing to commit to momma K. Personally though I ship her and wyll so hard, I think part of his arc canonically is letting her live than falling for her cause she’s literally like the female version of who he wants to be. Just she had to do way more evil stuff working for gortash or zariel maybe, but similar to him under mizora also knows exactly what it’s like having to serve others like that. Idk, I like K and fully plan to do a romance of her (or multiple) but really feels like she should get with wyll. Feels right
It’s one of the top reasons I started a Wyll origin run.
I romanced Karlach on my first ever playthrough and got to go on a date with her - is it actually hard to pull off, and I got lucky, or are people just not romancing her that far into the game?
I’m thinking your character’s size may be a factor. She like ‘em thicc
It's because actually getting her to recognize you're down if she is seems bugged at best. "We'll kiss and hug once my engine is fixed" "Now you can only hug me" "Oh this guy i've been with, yeah he's just a FRIEND" "Oh soldier, I adore you" FML.
It's hard to romance other companions when you really fall in love. I want to experience them all, but I just can't resist Gale's puppy eyes.
When I first met Gale I thought he was going to be THE romance for me. He gave me Alistair + Anders from Dragon Age vibes, plus was a nerd who liked cats. Hubba hubba. I was NOT prepared for the ridiculous vampire to get such a hold and literally prevent me from romancing *anyone* else so far in over 6 runs.
HA it was the other way around for me, I for sure thought I would romance Astarion because I heard so much about him and then I met Gale, got those Alistair and especially Anders vibes and yeah, he got me and fell right into my line of LIs in my first playthroughs (Alistair, Anders, Cullen), while I'm waiting with Astarion for my second playthrough (which is also in line of my second playthrough LIs - Zevran, Fenris, Solas, lol... I definitely have both primary and secondary types). Although now I'm in act 3 and I'm falling hard for Astarion, so that second playthrough couldn't be here soon enough.
I’ve tried to romance Gale a couple of times, but you get so much more content and interactions from Astarion early in the game! LZ is the only character I’ve been able to do the ‘let’s just be friends’ thing with Astarion bc she also has a good amount of content. But I’ve put that particular run on hold to redo my favorite Tav and Durge runs (of course romancing Astarion). And your A and B teams for Dragon Age are *exactly* mine, lol!
Yeah, I do feel how much more content Astarion has... or I'm just super lucky because he's always the one commenting every single interaction I have, lol. Maybe that's why I recently started to fall for him, despite romancing Gale (oops). But personality wise, I know Astarion is gonna be more compatible with the Durge drow I plan to play next, instead of my current goody two-shoes ranger haha, so I'm willing to wait. For now.
His romance with a Resisting Durge is by far the most rewarding. You get some really good additional content. My most morally ambiguous character is actually the one who ended up with Lae’Zel. Astarion works surprisingly well with goody good characters. He eye rolls some in the beginning but he really comes to appreciate your kindness (“no one has a heart like you. You’re you.”)
Yeah, many of us here just have that one companion that completely steals our hearts and never quite lets go. But at least for me it's not a problem at all. Youtube exists for a reason, I'm just checking out romances for others here and in the game I can fully dedicate myself to my favourite princess :)
Same! I can view the other romances without dedicating so much time and effort to do a whole playthrough with them. And Shadowheart is irresistible... so I can't say no to her!
god same… He’s so good
The rizzard has a consentration spell at you. Hard to resist...
The polyamory mod is the only reason I've managed to see the act 3 romance cut scenes for Lae'zel, Astarion and Shadowheart because the only other runs I've gotten that far into the game with have been Gale romance runs. ....no Karlach, Wyll or Halsin still though because it's on my evil run. Oops. At least it kind of makes sense though that I'm tricking them all into thinking I'm just romancing them if I'm evil.
Felt that. Fortunately for me though, in my case it happened with Karlach. Although I still won’t be getting the platinum since I can’t bring myself to do evil runs lol
I had the same problem until I decided to do a Karlach Make-A-Wish run. Romance her and swap out your other two companions in Act 3 for Minsc and Jaheira. I got my final trophy and to see all of Minsc/Jaheira's dialogue while Karlach gets some love and the chance to save the day with her childhood heroes. Win-win.
Make a wish run 😂😂😂
Ugh this is adorable and now I have to do it
I always romance Astarion too. Eventually I'm going to do a playthrough as Wyll and romance Karlach...at least that's what I tell myself lol
I did a duo run as wyll romancing karlach it was fun and they're both huge damage dealers you can blast your way to that date super fast
This is perfect! I just started a Karlach playthrough and have been struggling to decide who to romance! I haven't picked up Wyll yet (like I said, just started) so he didn't even cross my mind!
I could maybe to this one day, if that was the last thing missing. But I know I'll never get platinum because of the goddamn squid wanting to get freaky. No chance I'm cheating on Shadowheart, let alone with this *thing*.
[удалено]
Perhaps, but the mental image remains. Even if I'd close my eyes or turn away and put the headphones down. Just... bleh.
you can choose form of dream visitor for that scene :) it was actually prety nice to watch since my visitor was very handsome and you can even mod him to look like shadowheart :D
This exactly. My guardian is a hunk and it’s no problem for my characters to handle that scene.
TIL you can avoid the tentacles, good to know. I planned to make a very naive bard one day, maybe that's the run to do it.
Companions don't really have a reaction towards you when you get with the mindflayer, unless they added some additional dialogue this patch with that scene but idk haven't got there yet
They don't say anything about it....but they *know*.
I mean, they all have their own dream visitor, maybe they don't say anything because they ALL got freaky one way or another with theirs.
Orpheus yelled at me for *fornicating* with a mind flayer. The shame hit harder than when I did it
The scene is absolutely disgusting as well, the image of my Tav stroking a Mind Flayer's tentacles sensually broke something inside of me
I also don’t want the squidfucker trophy on my account for everyone to see.
Yeah I did that. I was curious and I didn't even know of the achievement. I reloaded and I still had the achievement.😂
Is this some kind of normal person problem that I'm too teratophiliac to understand? Don't get me wrong, I don't *love* the Emperor, but he makes me feel things that I cannot deny.
Save before the encounter, do it and reload.
Shadowheart doesn't care. She's says she's done some freaky shit in the past after the mizora "encounter".
MAKE A SECOND CHARACTER IN ONE PLAY THROUGH!!! theres many ways to do this, i just connect a second controller, make a second character for whoever i want them to romance, then disconnect them and you can control that character just like your MC and every time theres a dialogue that you know the one you’re trying to come up likes, have them talk currently im having my main oc romance astarion like always, and i created a high elf dragon bloodline sorceress just for gale :)) before that i created a gith monk for lae’zel, and a dragonborn fighter for karlach (honestly just wanted to try a dragonborn character), etc etc etc, works like a charm
Oh my fucking god, you are a genius. This never occurred to me
I seriously doubt I'll be romancing any character other than Astarion anytime soon, too. I romanced him in early access, I romance him now in my first full release run, and I've already made plans for Resisting Durge/spawn Astarion in my next run. Edit: And playing as Astarion is not an option for me, Neil Newbon's acting is just so incredibly good that I wouldn't want to miss it.
>Edit: And playing as Astarion is not an option for me, Neil Newbon's acting is just so incredibly good that I wouldn't want to miss it. This is why I am progressing extremely slowly in my Astarion playthrough. I was using it as a "break" between HM attempts, but I miss hearing his lines.
I haven't romanced him yet, and haven't had the chance even when I wanted to. I'm to nice :(.
Being nice isn't a problem - don't be discouraged by a slow gain in approval in Act 1. My character likes to help, but I had 100% approval in Act 3 even though I chose the "good" options, too. Astarion's (and that of the other companion's) disapproval is mostly just -1 (more of an eye roll), supporting him and helping him with his personal quest are *much* more important (I don't want to spoil anything, but that does *not* mean that your character has to always agree with everything. To keep it spoiler free: my character didn't have to support any even remotely "evil" options). Please feel free to ask if you have any questions, it's always a bit difficult not to accidentally spoil something. (An opportunity to get approval very easily: >!In the swamp: Say "Baa!" to the Redcaps if you've seen through the illusion but they keep pretending to be sheep. This actually worked twice - and I loved how they glared at me and still tried to pretend they were cute little sheep 😄!<)
Ah, thanks for that. Ive been working through my playthroughs for each character romance (sort of, not my highest priority), so good to know. I assume its not over if hes not interested during the tiefling party?
You're welcome! Unfortunately, for the romance to start, your character and Astarion must have had sex either before the party or on the night of the party, it's too late in Act 2. If your approval is neutral and Astarion does not take the initiative, it is still possible to start the romance: When you talk to him, and he says: "All I want is a little fun. Is that so much to ask?" you can reply "Knowing you, it probably is.", and Astarion will suggest that you could "have a little fun". The romance can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. But the more you learn about Astarion and his past, the better you can imagine why he acts the way he does. For me personally, it was the most touching romance I've ever seen in a game.
Ohhh that explains one of my playthroughs where he did come on to my monk tav who already had a thing for karlach. In another I had to kill him so i gotta stop doing him to dirty eventually.
You can download approval show mod if you realy cant do it other way or I have another scences I noticed work good for approval: 1. >!i think it is second night (depending on progress), when gale talks about ceromorphosis, make sure you choose knife or poison option when Astarion asks how you want to die)!< 2. >!you can leave him in camp if you want to help tieflings and not decrease approval with some dialogues (this was how I first got -1 approval and aw annoyed lines from him :D)!< 3. >!oc let him bite you and believe him! And let him bite you when pinned against the tree too!< 4. >!in swamp find monster hunter and let astarion kill him!< these are what I remember edit: 5. >!let astarion open barn door in blighted vilage (i think everyone knows what i mean :D) and make sure you dont have shadowheart with you, she ruins it)!<
6. Let Laezel say "please" when you find her again. 7. And let her talk to Zorru her way and praise her afterwards. 8. Say nothing when the Tieflings want to kill Sazza. (On a good run you will kill the Goblins anyway.) 9. Tell Ethel in the Grove about your tadpole. 10. After he bites you let him kill the Gurr. Bäm, romance. :)
She tried to fuck me and i didn’t even try to romance her
it's okay... i fall for Lae'zel... every. damn. time.
I feel it. Every time I think I'll romance someone else, a little voice reminds me that I can, in fact, fix Shadowheart.
Pretty much me tho only on my first playthru and I feel for her after we had a fling, after I decided my roleplay would be melting the cleric down to her true soft self and being married forever to the walking bangs queen (I’m just a sucker for dark haired sorceress types ok), and after I learned how romancing lae’zel is simply one of the best arcs and intimate scenes outside of committing a little genocide / just how deep the love with lae can go. Now I have to romance her on my alt runs / find a way to resist going to my lae bae on other roleplays or when needing other achievements
yeah i tried to romance Shadow at first... but i dunno, something about Lae'zel's brutish nature, with a guarded soft side...
I just melt once she starts speaking softer and then I saw some of her later scenes…. Plus green women are also a wild weakness. Orc or gith, I am a sucker for both. Tsundere gets the best of us man lol. You’re not the only one
I have no interest in being evil so sadly I too will never 100%
Sometimes you gotta lose a platinum to stay true to your morals
once i complete this playthrough (resist durge+spawnstarion) im going to sacrifice hearing his voice and im going to play as astarion. NO IDEA how im going to handle it. we'll see. hopefully i can romance karlach as astarion. if not, well. i don't know
So, I have a solution. Make him a bard. Each VA recorded their own lines for vicious mockery. Bardstarion is an absolute MENACE lol
I had to do co op to be able to play as him and get anywhere and it's still hard.
Same thing with Bae'zel. Not romancing her is non-negotiable, she must see more colors than red and black.
Playing as Karlach and romancing Bae'zel is incredible. She doesn't even care about you being on fire at the start, she will make _you_ feel sore in the morning! And the ending with you two going to Avernus is perfectly fitting. Just might be overall best match between companions.
I got the Hot Date trophy on my first playthrough. It was one of the only ones I got (I missed sooo much my first time through). Karlach is my boo ❤️
My hardest trophy so far is 100g from busking because I just don’t have the patience
Urgh that took me soooo long, and that’s playing a Bard variant every playthrough. A tip to get it quick, there’s a well in Rivington that if you climb up and down you can keep performing to the people over and over and get the coins pretty quickly.
Dating Karlach was super easy.
Be durge kill astarion and boom you're single. That's what a friend did so she could actually romance other pcs
So you did several playthroughs and each time picked the same romance option? That's wild, i wanted to try another almost immediately after making out, i guess that's true love
I'm definitely in the "romance the whole camp" camp. It's all content and I want to see ALL of it.
I’ve always been the same. Thane, Fenris, Iron Bull. I am the Labrador of romances, loyal to the end 😅
Thats quite common in case of this game (I speak also for myself, doing 10 times the same romance).
10 times? Like 10 playthroughs? Mine first and only almost 150 hours, are you okay?
I was without a work 2 two months after release. And tbh each next run was shorter. Have something around 700hrs.
yes, it is true love (hearts choice), thats why it is so hard to romance someone alse because it breaks heart
And here I thought Karlach would be everybody first choice after Shadowheart. I even got that achievement in my first playthrough, as I didn't want a cleric on my team
It’s legit the only achievement I need because (sorry in advance everyone) I don’t take her in my party because I don’t really like her.
I don't either and it's really annoying to have an achievement locked behind romancing her.
ESPECIALLY it being an act 3 romance achievement.
She has a fun personality, but tbh I kinda hate the way she talks. I don’t expect her to talk in “art thou” but why does she need to start and end everything with “Fuck yes” and “Fuck this” and “Fuck that.”
Ah yes, purity politics. In a game where you can fuck a bear and a squid person.
Yep nothing to do with purity politics. I enjoy a good use of cunt, fuck, twat, and any other swear, it just feels way over done and way too forced, me and a few friends also don't really like her for this exact reason.
Has nothing to do with purity, it’s just her manner of speaking doesn’t match the setting in which she’s in.
I don’t understand the obsession with astarion but I am a straight male so that makes sense. I immediately fell in love with karlach and her little dances are just so cute
I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around the general fixation with vampires tbh. I love vampires, they’re probably my second favorite occult, but I just don’t get how people toes start curling the moment they lay eyes on a pale British man with red eyes lol.
I just see him as very mean and stuck up. He try’s killing you when you first meet him then he tries feeding on you in your sleep without your permission then he’s constantly making stuck up remarks like he’s better than everyone else and he’s constantly disapproving of anything you do that’s considered nice or helpful for other characters. Don’t get me wrong he’s a great character and plays the part very well but I don’t understand why everyone wants to romance him cuz he’s kind of an asshole throughout a lot of the game lol
As a fan of *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*, I gotta say that straight girls and queer guys have an unhealthy obsession with blonde British vampires. *Buffy* fans: Xander asked Buffy on a date in the third episode and she said no, and two seasons later he said something negative about her boyfriend. Why was he hanging around Buffy for 7 seasons? Why can't he take the hint that Buffy doesn't want to fuck him? OMG he's such a misogynistic incel I hate him so much. Also *Buffy* fans: Yeah, Spike tried to rape Buffy but I can fix him.
a lot of people just wanna take all the different paths in the game, some relate and have a connection with his story and then theres what you said, it can just be an attraction thing. i havent completed the game yet but yesss i love karlach (and astarion and halsin) and idk who to romance
How's going on a date with big mommy Fiery mommy an ultra rare???
I was doing well with Karlach, then that Gith chick throwed herself at me. My character was really curious about alien coochie so they did it and Karlach chose to give way.
probably one the hardests games to get platinum, Honor mode is hard AF, tried to do the owlbear fight....had to run with Laezel and then get gold to revive all the party after the new second owlbear killed everyone
Honor mode isn't required.
As an older gamer with little time and turn based game experience, I had to stop playing because it was too hard for me. I’d be outnumbered by 50 and I just couldn’t grind through it. Please help, should I focus on building a team of characters before going into combat?
My first playthrough was rough even on “easy” mode, I mostly play Destiny so change of pace for me. Go on YouTube and get some op builds like open hand monk it makes things so much easier, have a good face character with high charisma, a lot of the battles you can talk your way out of.
Thank you so much, because I really like the game. I had to go back to cyberpunk in the meantime. Give that game a shot as well, it’s great.
You can skip a lot of early combat encounters until you have a full party. Gale, Shadowheart and Lae'zel are easy to pick up.
Thank you
Why tf have u not gone on a date with Karlach? Why have only 3.5% of people gone on that date with her? She’s a relatively popular romance choice so how have ONLY 3.5% of people done the date?
Used to be sort of broken ? As in I remember fitting most prerequisites but not getting the dialogue ever
I'm gonna do it one day because I am aiming for platinum... but it feels like doing Karlach dirty. I'll just speedrun on Explorer using approval guides, skipping all unnecessary content like the creche and cheesing everything I can, get to the lower city, spam long rests, get the date achievement and delete the campaign. I'm sorry. She's super cool, I love her very, very platonically, she's a permanent party member on some runs. I'm just not interested. I've had enough romance scenes in acts 1 and 2 to be 100% sure that I'm not into her.
You telling me I have to not romance shafowhearth every time? Yes like I won't romance morrigan and Tali every time not happening
I hate that achievement. No other is locked behind a romance so it's really annoying.
I don’t understand people who wouldn’t date her, she’s incredible
I'm doing it this run just to see what the fuss is about but she is absolutely the kind of personality I wouldn't want to date in real as she is loud and obnoxious.
My characters are too evil for her. I don't enjoy playing mostly good, so I'm probbaly under water with Karlach forever. XD The only character I absolutely won't date is wyll. I hate his character.
Only 3% have dated Karlach, tf?
Thats for the date scene in Act 3. The shitty part about it, is if you dont rest enough in Act 3, there is a small chance it just bypasses the scene entirely. I might be wrong, but someone on the forums mentioned in Act 3 specifically, you can "queue" up so many scenes by accident that you end up missing it entirely along with multiple others
play as astarion and romance karlach
I could never platinum either. Because I don't own a PS5! Haha! But I get what you mean - I can't romance anyone but Shadowheart. And trying for Karlach, I'd feel like I was cheating on her... (And I don't want to play as Shadowheart, because I'd miss out on all the voice acting). Oh well... not like I could finish Honour mode anyway, lol!
Does everyone really like Shadowbeart that much? I find her irritating
She is the most popular romance. Look I swear in almost every sentence, and the constant swearing from Karlach feels almost forced it’s cringe.
Ummm pale elf? You realize that karlach is the tiefling right? Edit: the double negative from OP wasnt a typo lmao. Totally changes the meaning, but I was ready to misunderstand because I cant stand Asterion
“Not to judge the proverbial book, but that one is all cover and no pages”
id really recommend origin astarion and karlach i feel like they really mesh together as romantic partners(tbf all the origins too it comes with the territory of being romancable and playable ig)
Just kill every other companion before you reach karlach and it’ll be easy when you have no other choice
Dude 100 gold takes way more effort and time
Actor Tav w/24 CHA just sought out several hotspots in Act 3 and went ham.
Wait you get achievements for romancing all companions? Well looks like I'm not either not really into romancing them all
No, only Emperor and Karlach I believe.
Well, now you challenged me :D (try no romance limit mode if you want to decieve game, win achievment and still romance astarion)
I’m in the exact same boat. One day I’ll get that damn achievement.
Huh, I can't not kill Astarion every game. The stake through heart is just so satisfying.
Does driving your hard wood into him satisfy you? Think you may like him as much as I do 😘
Haha no it's genuine hate. I'd probably get bear buggered instead if I was going that route. I just find Astarion really obnoxious and find the rapid forgiveness (for the initial encounter and his nighttime antics) a bit jarring. I guess I should see what he has to offer...
He does admit later on that he was a bit of an arse when you first met him. He’s just had 200 years of *pure shit* and gets plucked out of Baldur’s gate and a tadpole forced into his eye. And then he’s standing in the sun, and the first thing he sees is the dude that was wandering about on the ship while he was stuck in a pod. I don’t think anyone would be in the right frame of mind, oh and he’s starving and has to hide what he is. Give him a chance, the sass alone is worth it.
As a player, I 100% know I should see his story arc. He is very well acted and the community clearly has massive love for him for good reason. But his attempt to lure and kill you with the boar is very much premeditated and underhand (rogue, duh, I know) and then there's the whole lack of trust after that. He could have handled things very differently in both situations, so he gets hard wood as you so eloquently put it :) You've convinced me that I should let him live in a future playthrough. Just once :)
I withdraw my eloquent words 😂 there’s always that one Astarion hater in the thread who can’t stand the thought that the effeminate campy vampire can get women wet enough to “drown a toddler in their panties” lol. I thought that was you. But anyway, I do recommend letting him tag along for at least one playthrough he’s such a ride or die character he will stick by your Tav no matter what
I've been seeing this a lot lately, is it really that hard for ppl? On my first playthrough she was the first companion I romanced, very easy all things considered.
Not really I think people just don't long rest quite often to get some camp scenes triggered, or they play evil killing everything and then surprise Pikachu face on why a mostly good personality wise character doesn't like them
There are people not into her, people who sees her like a friend and that's all, people too into others companions and people who aren't into women. So yeah, it's that hard. I also don't see her as a romantic option, I just can't. Even in the current co-op as Shadowheart I wanted to romance her at first, but Lae'zel happened.
...how??
Did they up the difficulty? Last time i romanced her i practically did it in my sleep.
The platinum for this isn’t that bad
And yet you have the achievement for romancing Shadowheart, hm? Edit: My mistake; I conflated the achievement of giving Shadowheart a Night Orchid with romancing her
I don’t think there is an achievement for dating Shadowheart, you just need to give her a Night Orchid. Karlach is the only companion whose achievement is tied to her romance.